“But youcould. You’re their sister! You have as much claim as they do. And after the election is over, we can burn it. All of it.”
Jac flushed. Maybe he shouldn’t have said “we.” This was why Jac was never the smooth talker—he didn’t open up; he unraveled.
“But this is suicide.” Her voice was high-pitched, and she trembled the same way she had in the tunnels beneath the Mistress parlor. Maybe her fear of the dark and the fear of her siblings were one and the same. “They can’t know who I am. If they find out...”
“You’ve been getting close to Delia for months,” Jac pointed out. “There’s always been that risk.”
“Close enough to interfere, yes, but torivalthem?” She let out a strained, hopeless laugh. “You either underestimate them, or you overestimate me.”
Jac had witnessed enough of Delia’s twisted laboratory to know to fear her and her brother, but that washim. Where was Sophia’s easy confidence? He’d never seen her this vulnerable.
“Everyone at Liver Shot eats out of the palm of your hand. You bet on and win every fighting match.” One of the other dancers bumped into them, causing them to stumble even closer together. Jac caught Sophia by the side and steadied her, and her chest pressed against his. He swallowed and tried to focus. “You’re the most confident person I’ve ever—”
“That’s because I’mlucky,” she snapped at him. “I told you how my talent works. Of course I win all my bets. I was lucky I got my promotion. Lucky we made it out of that den today alive.”
Jac’s hands started to sweat. He wasn’t convincing her—he was only making her angry.
“And I might be lucky,” Sophia continued, “but Delia and Charles areinvincible. It doesn’t matter how many charms I have—their methods are much more effective than mine. I’ll never outplay them. I’ll only expose myself and undermine everything I’ve worked for.”
Jac recognized the fear in her voice. It was the overwhelming nausea he’d felt when he walked onto Chain Street this afternoon. It was the nightmares that woke him up in cold sweats. It was when he took the long way home simply to avoid certain places.
Jac had felt that terror when he agreed to enter the Torren empire, and clearly, Sophia had, too. And they’d both braved that fear in order to do something they believed in.
That made them the same.
If Sophia could confront him and show him that he could want more, that he couldbemore, then he could do the same for her.
“It meant something to me today, to burn down that den,” Jac said quietly.
Sophia averted her eyes. “I know that.”
“Why didyouwant to do it?”
“Because they’re both monsters, and they’re my family. It’s my responsibility to bring them down.” She hugged her arms to herself. Jac got the feeling he was watching her unravel, too. “I’ve already sacrificed so much to do this—more than you could ever guess. I owe it to myself to make those sacrifices worth it.”
After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed her hands and squeezed them reassuringly. All it had taken was the smell of gasoline, and Jac’s decision had been sealed. He would do whatever it took to see Luckluster Casino and all the Torren dens reduced to rubble.
Maybe he didn’t know Sophia well; maybe she didn’t know him. But if they were both bound to this path, then they might as well walk it together.
“I won’t tell you what to do,” he said, “but if you choose this, then I’ll help you every step of the way.”
She looked down to where their hands touched, and her expression softened. “But it’s not the same for you. All you need to do is give Harrison a name and leave. You’re not in it like I am. You could go back to...” She crinkled her nose and looked around the room. “Overly greased hair and suits with the tags still on.”
He grinned wryly. “Well, I won’t pretend like the Irons are a class act—”
“That girl is literally vomiting in the corner.” Sophia nodded at Stella, who was indeed bent over a waste bin.
“I...” Jac couldn’t argue about the Irons, but she was wrong about him. He was at a party surrounded by friends but feeling like an outsider, because what he wanted wasn’t here anymore.
“I could get a new job,” he murmured, “but I could neverleave. There will never be a time when I walk past Chain Street and don’t get chills. When I won’t have nightmares that send me into a spiral for days. When I won’t wake up telling myself I have to fight, that I never get to stop fighting.”
Sophia bit her lip. “You’re right. Of course you’re right.” She squeezed his hand, and it made his stomach tie in knots. “I’ll do it,” she murmured. “But if I regret this several hours from now, I’ll blame you and that face of yours.”
“What’s wrong with my face?”
“Nothing, and it’s very upsetting.”
Jac grinned as he led her to the corner of the room, where Levi sat, staring into the bottom of his glass.
